Captain 018

With the original rulers fleeing and the Guardian system completely overthrown, the abandoned people were unwilling to continue being oppressed by the so-called headquarters. They elected new leaders, and thus a new regime was established.

At the same time, news emerged regarding the areas occupied by the Anomalies. Because the Anomalies did not restrict the freedom of the residents, people in the human-ruled territories were astonished when they saw friends and relatives emerging from the fallen zones. From these people's mouths, they learned that humans in the Anomaly-occupied areas had long since begun resuming production and reconstruction work.

Just as the humans were struggling to understand what the Anomalies were up to, Fang Zhiyi broke into the capital with a few of his subordinates. The humans reacted as quickly as possible, but Fang Zhiyi didn't seem to be there to kill them. Instead, he barged into the building where the leader was located all by himself, while the guards were firmly subdued by the Anomalies he brought along, completely unable to resist.

The temporarily dispatched army surrounded the outside so tightly that not a drop of water could leak through, yet they did not open fire. Unsure of what was happening inside, they could only stand by in full combat readiness, as no one wanted to bear the blame for killing the leader.

After an unknown amount of time, Fang Zhiyi's figure emerged from the building. Before leaving, he even politely shook hands with the thin man, acting just like a representative who had come specifically for a visit.

They swaggered away under the heavy siege, seemingly completely indifferent to the human threat.

In May of the same year, a major piece of news broke out: the Anomalies had initiated the first round of negotiations with human representatives regarding the future survival of humanity.

This was also the first peaceful negotiation with Anomalies in human history.

When the news of the negotiations reached the ears of Shen Yue and the others, she finally understood Fang Zhiyi's intentions.

"I have to say... I never thought it could be resolved this way..." Shen Yue looked into the distance, her eyes filled with relief. It was said that there was an Anomaly city in that direction, though they rarely came over here.

The negotiations lasted for several months. It wasn't until the end of the year that the new leader of the human empire announced to all of humanity that the era of Anomaly invasions had come to an end.

During these few months, the Anomalies still made abnormal movements, but they no longer continued to harass humans. Instead, they turned to clearing out other Anomalies entrenched in various places.

Rumors also circulated among the Anomalies that their leader was a despicable fellow who burned people's butts with cigarette butts and then asked them for heating fees. His subordinates were also increasingly atrocious in their actions, using underhanded methods that made one's hair stand on end.

Because of this notorious reputation, many Anomalies with half a brain chose to join without almost any resistance.

News of the final war barely leaked out. For the first time, the Anomalies conducted a joint operation with the human army, together breaching the northern stronghold of the former empire's top brass. Those who had controlled the empire for nearly a century were all purged.

"Boss, control the Wuchang Brothers. That person was clearly supposed to be mine." The old man carrying a lantern blew his beard and glared.

One of the Wuchang Brothers laughed while the other cried.

"Don't come to me with this crap." Fang Zhiyi was practically dead tired; right now, he just wanted to lie down and rest properly.

"Boss! The humans just sent over another batch of heavily sentenced felons! We can't fit them all in!" A paper figurine yelled as it ran over, with the Thousand-Child Tree struggling to chase after it, only moving a few steps after a long time, making anyone watching feel anxious.

"If we can't fit them, don't you know how to dig a few more dungeons?"

"That's not a solution either. Humans have clearly started to develop again, so why are there even more bastards than before?"

"Because that's what humans are... Without humans, wouldn't you all cease to exist too?"

Suddenly, Fang Zhiyi stopped in his tracks and turned to look at the travel-worn group.

"Holy crap, Li Fei! You're not dead yet?" An Anomaly yelled as it leaned in.

"Shoo, shoo, who taught you to greet people like that?"

"You did," Zhao Lei pointed out, as incisive as ever.

Li Fei felt a bit awkward.

"Boss... the Coffin Lady and the council have issued a bill regarding the Anomaly management regulations, and they want you to take a look," Shen Yue said with a smile.

"Are they sick in the head? We're in a co-governance now, and they still want me to look at this kind of bullshit? I won't!" Fang Zhiyi was highly averse to the matter. He had clearly done everything he was supposed to do. Did they really think Anomalies were just tireless beasts of burden?

Watching Fang Zhiyi run away in a flash, Shen Yue turned her head to look at Li Fei, who had his arm around the Anomaly's shoulder, and shook her head with a bitter smile.

"Shen Yue, my big brother says he likes you! Hehe!" the Smiling Wuchang spoke up.

"You motherf—!" The Smiling Wuchang was grabbed by the neck and swiftly dragged away.

Shen Yue rolled her eyes. Days like this, without fighting and killing, and without living in constant fear, were truly nice.

She suddenly chased after Fang Zhiyi's direction. She had also come this time to tell him news about Lin Wanxing. She had seen Lin Wanxing, except... that Lin Wanxing seemed to have gone mad. It was said that she was scammed while doing a good deed, and her child was abducted. Although those culprits were subdued by the Anomalies, Lin Wanxing never returned to normal.

"Because the vast majority of high-level Anomalies rely on feeding off human emotions, naturally some of them are extremely sensitive to the emotion of human greed. Under the proposal of the human council, these Anomalies all joined the supervision department. However, since Anomalies don't understand the ways of the world, the sentencing for certain cases became the key issue."

"This is the initial supervisory penal code of our empire, which was only improved later on, so you must read the questions carefully! Read the questions carefully!"

The professor wrote on the blackboard, not stopping his lecture for a moment.

"During exams, you will generally have related questions. For example, the approximate range of the sentence for a prisoner locked in an Anomaly dungeon due to greed. A is wrong, B is also wrong, and C is incorrect, so the correct answer is D."

"This question has appeared for three consecutive years, and it will definitely appear this time too!"

A student stared blankly outside, where a Hanged Ghost was swinging back and forth from a bare tree, while a few students were buried in their books under the tree, presenting a harmonious scene.

"I heard the Thousand-Child Tree and that Hanged Ghost have something romantic going on, is that true?"

The student nodded repeatedly. "Exactly, are they dating?" He suddenly realized something was wrong and slowly turned his head to lock eyes with the professor.

"Copy today's class material ten times, understood? Not studying when you should, and gossiping about others instead!"

The classroom erupted in laughter.

The punished student muttered as he lowered his head, looking at the history textbook in his hands. The following paragraph read: "After a century of co-governance, humanity regained its research pathways, and human development once again returned to the right track. However, the former scientific research representative did something extremely sensitive. By observing the characteristics of the Anomalies, he extracted a substance that was much more targeted than the early weapons used to counter them."

"Although the Anomaly faction showed an indifferent attitude towards this matter, the council believed that such actions might spark a war once again, and thus permanently sealed this research report."

Why does it feel like war is going to start again? The student stroked the book, shook his head after a moment, and thought, humans are truly quite contradictory.